Small structures are often used as outlying buildings to homes, farms, factories and other larger structures for a variety of uses, such as storage of materials, garden supplies and machinery, among other things. In particular, homeowners often desire a garden or storage shed in which to store garden implements such as lawnmowers, etc. Such structures are typically very simple, such as shed 10 shown in FIG. 1. Because of the large volume of such structures, however, it is often desirable to construct the structure at the location where it is to be used. Thus, manufacturers of such structures often provide the structures in kit form to allow the user to build the structure in the desired location.
Typically, as illustrated in FIG. 2, kits for constructing a shed 10 will include some form of foundation 12 and a plurality of prefabricated trusses 14. The user positions foundation elements 12 and then erects trusses 14 across the foundation. Shed 10 is finished by adding siding and roof. One reason for prefabricating trusses is their relative complexity, as can be seen in FIG. 2. The complexity of trusses 14 arises from the number of pieces used to construct them, their geometry and the precision required in assembling the various elements to ensure the appropriate shape and consistency from truss to truss.
One drawback to prefabricated trusses, however, is that the prefabricated truss must be at least the size of the cross-section of the structure. Thus, while many of the elements of the kit may be reduced to a manageable size, the truss must be provided in its full and assembled state, which may be significantly larger than what may be easily transported or provided in a single package. For example, if the shed shown in FIG. 1 has dimensions of 8'.times.8'.times.8', trusses 14 must be at least 8'.times.8' if pre-assembled. In contrast, all the other elements of the structure, such as siding, roofing panels and various other structural supports may be sized to fit on a single 4'.times.8' pallet, i.e., a standard sized pallet that is easily shipped and handled by shippers, warehousers, distributors and retailers. The 8'.times.8' trusses, on the other hand, exceed the standard pallet size and thus cannot be packaged on the same pallet as the other materials. Thus, a kit for such a structure will necessarily include at least two pallets, one of which is oversized to accommodate the trusses. This complicates the transportation, storage, distribution and retailing of such structures, dramatically increasing the cost of such structures to the consumer, as well as creating great inconvenience in transporting the structure to the consumer's construction site.
Alternatively, the truss may be provided in partially assembled form. Nonetheless, such a partially assembled truss still creates the need for the user to assemble the truss with sufficient precision to ensure that the resulting structure is stable and consistent from truss to truss. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a kit for constructing structures which does not require precise assembly of truss elements, but that may be packaged on a single pallet of a standard size for ease of transportation, distribution, retailing and construction.